Our Christmas Movie Addiction

Our family loves Christmas movies.  Every year, on November 1st, out comes the ever-growing box of movies which replaces regular prime-time television viewing in our home for the next 2 months!  We love them because they almost all contain an underlying positive theme, a reminder that things do work out the way they are meant to, and that deep down, people are inherently good.  

Over the years, I've discovered that we are not alone and that a LOT of people love these movies as much as we do.  After unsuccessfully attempting to find Christmas Movie related gifts for fellow holiday movie lover friends/family, I decided to make some of my own!  They are all available in my Etsy shop HERE

Our all-time, favorite Christmas movie is It's A Wonderful Life.  

Life lesson:  No man is a failure who has friends.

Right up there at the top of the list of favorites is, of course, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.

Life lesson:  Wax your sled at your own risk!

Some of my favorite dog quotes!

Bailey's Wedding

I was so excited when my daughter's best friend, Bailey, decided to marry her high school sweetheart  last year.  She had neither a lot of time, or a huge budget and was planning on borrowing a lot of her decorations from a friend who had been married earlier.    Since I'm a firm believer that every woman deserves her very "own" wedding, I offered to help her design the wedding of her dreams!

First up on the agenda of course, was her bridal shower.

 The Bridal Shower

The Candy Bar/Dessert Table

In addition to any purple or yellow candy we were able to find, the dessert table included cake pops dipped in yellow and purple frosting.  I have never had much luck with cake pops and had pretty much given up on ever making them again.  Too much work and they never came out the way they were supposed to.  That is until I came across this:

Babycakes cake pop maker.  I bought mine at Michaels with a 40% off coupon and now my cakepops come out perfect - every time!

Bailey loved the country/mason jar theme and I was able to purchase some mason jar graphics to use for the food labels.  Once designed, we just printed them off on yellow cardstock and attached to purple cardstock for the tent style tags.

For a free download of food tags, including some blank ones to fill in yourself, please click Here.

We printed and laminated bookmarks and used them as favors for her shower.  I use Serif's DrawPlus to design my graphics, but any graphics program would work and there are several free ones available for download.    I purchased my lamination machine at Walmart for around $40 years ago, and it has paid for itself MANY times over!   Once you design your bookmark, just print and then laminate, and cut.   Use a single hole-punch at the top and tie a pretty piece of ribbon through the hole and you have a not only beautiful, but very useful party favor.

Soon To Be ... Banner hanging over the fireplace.  My Cricut machine made this project very easy!

We were going with the mason jar/country/raffia theme for the wedding, and when I found this extra large mason jar I thought how perfect it would be for the advice for the bride to be!  

Click Here to download free advice printable.

What is a bridal shower without a few games, right?  We had several to choose from and the guests seemed to enjoy them all.

                    (Door Prize)

Coming soon, The Wedding Day!

Doggie In The Window MAD Summer Update

"Frozen" Themed Birthday Party

"Frozen" themed birthday party for a very special 2-year-old!

Upcycled Flower Girl Basket & Ring Bearer Pillow

My name is Kelly and I am a craft supply hoarder.  They really should have a 12 step program for those of us who suffer from this affliction because unless someone in the family intervenes (usually one of my daughters), it can easily take over your life.  Okay not that bad, but it can definitely take over a room or two in your house!   When I am faced with the choice of throwing something out that I no longer use or need, whether it be a torn or soiled piece of clothing or a burnt out light bulb, I often find myself holding the item, passing it from hand to hand, inspecting it closely to determine if there is any earthly way that I could use it, or parts of it in a future creation.  I've torn buttons off of shirts before discarding them, I save empty dog food bags (to one day sew into tote purses for dog lovers), and I have a Rubbermaid container of burnt light bulbs that I one day hope to paint.   The chance that I will use even a fraction of these items is slim to none, but every once in a while I come across something that I had saved (and forgotten about) and find a way to put it to good use, which is exactly what happened when I was planning my daughter's wedding last year.    I was digging through her box of baby items, looking for the bonnet that she wore at her christening, as it was designed to be turned into a hanky for her wedding day with just a few stitches.    As I was searching through her baby items that I had saved (again, it goes without saying, this is a BIG box), I came across a pink basket that someone had sent me flowers in when she was born, and a light bulb went off in my head!   One of the last items on my list to purchase was a flower girl basket, and I was already imagining 100 ways I could transform this brittle, peeling, pink basket into a beautiful flower girl's basket.  I thought of painting  it but decided to cover it with fabric, and eventually came up with the idea to use fabric and lace from my wedding gown to cover the basket.   I had already used some of this fabric for the ring bearer's pillow, as well as her garter, so using it for the basket was a perfect match!  So to any new mom's out there, don't be afraid to save anything from your baby's first few years.    I never dreamed that when I saved that basket 25 years earlier, that it would play in role in one of the most important days of her life!!

Free Printable Lunch Box Notes - Let your little ones know you are thinking of them while they are at school.   There are even a couple of blank ones where you can write your own special message.   Click HERE to download, then print, cut out, and slip one in your child's lunch each day!  Enjoy!